Xara Webster - Creating Smooth Bitmap Edges
The bitmaps you create with Xara Webster look fantastic if
the edges of the objects in the drawing are smoothed against the
background color. If you want to know how to achieve perfect
smooth edges, read on..
With Xara Webster, you can create bitmaps in two ways and
this page applies to both :
- Creating bitmaps from Objects within documents using Create Bitmap Copy on the Arrange menu.
- Creating GIF, JPEG and PNG files using Export on the File menu.
The trick to smooth edges is to get the background behind the objects
right before you create the bitmap. In the left picture below, the
purple star bitmap was exported as a transparent bitmap with a black
rectangle behind it. Notice how its edges look great on the black areas.
In the right hand picture, the purple star bitmap was exported with a
white rectangle behind it, notice how much better it looks on the
white background.

Notice how out of the two 'G' bitmaps, the left-hand one blends
perfectly into the page background whereas the right-hand one was created
on a white background.
It Works Like This...
Whatever is in the background when you create a bitmap will make
quite a difference to how the edges of the bitmap blend to the
background on your web page. Below are the results of creating a
button bitmap using three different backgrounds so you can see for
yourself how good you can get your bitmap edges.
With a White Background

You can see that this looks bad. This is mainly because the
soft shadow is partially transparent so the white background
in Xara Webster is showing through it.
With a Simple Colored Background

This is a simple way to get a good effect. Draw a rectangle behind
the button and color it as near as you can to the background on
your web page before you create the bitmap. If the background is roughly the
same color all over, this technique works very well.
With the Actual Web Background

For the best results, import the background you want to use on your
web page into Xara Webster and place it behind the button before you
create the bitmap. Now those are smooth edges!
Tips
- When you select the objects to create the bitmap, it's important
you don't select the background you have placed behind them.

© Copyright Xara Ltd:
page last updated 14 February 1997
For more information, contact
webmaster@xara.com.
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